The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) Chorale and Concert Orchestra join forces with the Xavier University Concert Choir and Bel Canto Choir of the Cincinnati Children’s Choir for a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony and other works at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, in UC’s Corbett Auditorium. The program will also include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis for string orchestra and Edward Elgar’s concert overture In the South. Tickets are on sale now.

Britten’s Spring Symphony, Op. 44, was commissioned and dedicated to Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which shared the 1949 premiere with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in July (in Amsterdam) and August (with the BSO at Tanglewood). This choral symphony was written just four years after Britten’s widely acclaimed PeterGrimes opera when the composer was 35.

Britten’s passion for and vast knowledge of English literature is matched only by his tremendous gift for matching it so masterfully to music. Such skillful and expressive text-setting is unrivaled since the days of Henry Purcell (and certainly in the arena of English opera). Utilizing springtime texts, chiefly from the 16th and 17th centuries (by poets such as Edmund Spenser, John Milton and George Peele), as well as one notable 20th century inclusion by his friend W. H. Auden, Britten creates a work that, in his own words, represents “the progress of Winter to Spring and the reawakening of the earth and life which that means.”

Britten casts the poetry in the mold of a four-movement “symphony,” with full orchestra, chorus, children’s chorus and a trio of soloists (soprano, alto, tenor). But in many ways, the piece is a masterful concerto for orchestra that features the various colors of instrumental “choirs” (brass, winds, strings, etc.). In this regard, it is more of a 17th century Italian “sinfonia,” or “sounding together.” Yet, in some ways, it is a choral response to an earlier (1943) Koussevitsky commission, the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra.

CCM Director of Choral Studies Earl Rivers conducts Britten’s Spring Symphony. Jing Huan, a third-year conducting doctoral student from China and recently selected participant in the prestigious Cabrillo Festival, will conduct Elgar’s In the South. Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis will be conducted by Aik Khai Pung, adjunct instructor at CCM, who will be assisting in upcoming opera productions at the Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Luminato Festival in Toranto and Toronto Festival of Arts Culture and Creativity this summer.

CCM presents Spring Symphony as part of a series of performances celebrating the centennial of English composer Benjamin Britten’s birth. Other celebratory events include a 2013-14 Mainstage Series production of Britten’s opera Owen Wingrave, running Nov. 21–24 in Patricia Corbett Theater.

Purchasing TicketsTickets are $12 for general audiences, $6 for non-UC students. UC student tickets are FREE. Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice.

Parking and DirectionsParking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visit uc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.